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Holiday Memories: Cross-Country Skiing at My Farm

I hope you all have a very safe and festive New Year's Eve. Enjoy this encore post from the winter of 2011. It celebrates nature, good friends and healthy living - a perfect way to look forward to 2016.

I finally got to put my cross-country skis to good use. I really love cross-country skiing because it’s an excellent way to tour the countryside. But, it’s also a really effective aerobic exercise, using muscles in the legs, arms, shoulders, back, chest, abdomen, and glutes. The kick and glide motion combined with the poling technique to propel you along, burns as many as six-hundred to nine-hundred calories per hour! Compared to downhill skiing, there's a much lower risk of injury. Plus, you don’t need to purchase expensive lift tickets or wait in long lift lines. With all of my carriage roads, my farm is an excellent place to ski. But, one can ski in public parks and nature trails. There are also many cross-country resorts that open miles of groomed trails for a nominal fee. Last weekend, I called some friends to join me for a ski on a bright and sunny day.